Issue #19460 has been updated by luke-gru (Luke Gruber). I should also note I don't know if this is a bug or if this is simply not possible to do in Ruby. I know using `load` and `remove_const` (auto-reload feature of Rails, for example) is possible but that's different. ---------------------------------------- Bug #19460: Class not able to be garbage collected https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/issues/19460#change-101994 * Author: luke-gru (Luke Gruber) * Status: Open * Priority: Normal * Backport: 2.7: UNKNOWN, 3.0: UNKNOWN, 3.1: UNKNOWN, 3.2: UNKNOWN ---------------------------------------- I'm working on something where I need to remove a class and release all memory related to that class. I've stumbled upon a limitation where in some instances I cannot get the class to be GC'd. The problem (I think) is that inline method caches cache the class, and even if the class would otherwise be gone, it stays. For example: ```ruby class A def do_something end end a = A.send(:new) a_id = A.object_id a = nil Object.send(:remove_const, :A) # A should be able to be released now. 10.times { GC.start } a_ref = ObjectSpace._id2ref(a_id) rescue nil puts "a_ref: #{a_ref.class}" # we get NilClass, it is released ``` However: using `A.new` above, it can't be GC'd. If there is an initialize method (even empty) it can't be GC'd. If there's a method call inside the class to another instance method on self ex: `self.do_something`, it can't be GC'd. I'm not sure exactly what is going on but it looks like an inline cache marking issue. Maybe caches are getting marked, even inside methods where the method itself doesn't get marked. -- https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/